Well, it’s Friday, so there must be a Famous Face! This week it is Karen Grassle, perhaps best known as ‘Ma Ingalls’ on eight seasons of “Little House on the Prairie.” In 2003, she played the Duchess of York in our production of “Richard II.”

The thing about history is that it repeats itself. The beauty of theatre is that it interacts with generation after generation and makes connections to current events, over and over. Recently, Lue Douthit and I were talking about this year’s exhibits for the side galleries. One will be about The Diary of Anne Frank.

As part of her work for Wit (produced in 2000), Lue Douthit consulted the Archives. Knowing the reputation of Margery Bailey, Lue thought perhaps Dr. Bailey would be a good model for the scholarly and academic Professor E.M. Ashford, a character in the play performed by Catherine E. Coulson.

So why Margery Bailey? Who was she and why is she the only woman, among men, to grace the wall at the back of the reception desk?